


Stubbornness

by queermoraghid (TheDoctorIsIcecube)



Series: Torna: The Golden Flufftry [8]
Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Family Bonding, Fluff, Gen, I feel like I should make a tag for the intervening 494 years, Post-Torna, Pre-Main Game, Spoilers, Torna: The Golden Country DLC, any suggestions folks?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 04:02:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17338214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDoctorIsIcecube/pseuds/queermoraghid
Summary: Jin returns to the inn to find Mikhail obstinate and Malos very annoyed. The problem of 'the kid doesn't want to tidy the room' ended up being a lot deeper than anticipated, and Jin has to sort it out.





	Stubbornness

**Author's Note:**

> Okay it's been ages since I added anything to this series but someone mentioned to me that they really liked the series and then I caught the XC2 Feels Bug again so,,,here we are

It was early afternoon and, for some reason, Jin walked into an incredibly tense inn room. All he’d done was go out on a brief walk to check on the docks, making sure there wasn’t any more Indoline or army activity than usual, and he’d walked back to this.

Mikhail was stood in the centre of the room, between the two beds, his arms crossed over his chest. He had a deep frown on his face, and the room was visibly darker than outside, but it seemed he hadn’t noticed his powers leaking yet.

“Mik?” Apparently he hadn’t even noticed Jin walk in, because there was a short pause before Mikhail jumped, looked up at him, and the lights suddenly went back to normal. “What’s wrong? You look upset…” 

“I just asked him if he could tidy up a bit,” Malos said, standing up straight from where he’d been leaning against the wall, apparently just watching Mikhail. “Kid just point blank refused to do it.”

“I see.” Jin looked between the two of them, and sighed. They were both stubborn, and it was a good thing that he had come back now, or else they might have been stuck glaring at each other for hours. “Mikhail, why won’t you clean the room?” 

“I don’t want to,” he said. He shot another scowl at Malos.

Okay. It wasn’t like Mik to be rebellious, other than when...but they weren’t in any danger right now. There was no obvious reason for him to refuse, which just made Jin all the more concerned. “Why don’t I do it with you?”

“I don’t want to,” Mik snapped again. He was still glaring at Malos, whose presence Jin was starting to feel was just making this situation worse. 

“Malos, will you go do something else for a little while? I need to talk to Mik.” 

Malos’ face somehow soured even more, but he looked between the two of them and shrugged like he was trying to show he didn’t care. “Sure, if you really think that’s necessary. This place is a tip.”

“I do think that’s necessary, yes.” Jin folded his arms, and waited as Malos stood up and stalked out of the room. “...Right. Now that he’s out of the way, Mik, why don’t you tell me what’s really going on here?” 

“I don’t want to do it,” he repeated, a little quieter this time. He bit his lip after he spoke. He was clearly worried about something, there had to be a reason. But Jin had no idea what it could be. “So I won’t.”

“And I won’t make you,” Jin said, sighing. “But I’m assuming that there’s a reason for this beyond you just being stubborn with Malos. So if you could stop sulking and talk to me, I’d appreciate it.” 

“It’s not a good reason,” Mikhail said.

“It must be a good reason if you’re thinking it,” Jin said. “You don’t tend to shy from stuff like this. What’s wrong?” His mind was firmly fixed on the times that Mikhail had run around, always insisting that he do everything he could to help their group.

“I didn’t used to,” Mikhail snapped. “It’s different now.”

“So what’s changed? Why don’t you want to help clean up the room?” Dealing with kids had not gotten any less exasperating since the last time he checked. “Come on, Mik, I can tell that something is bothering you.” 

“I just don’t,” he said. “Isn’t that good enough?” Jin couldn’t understand why Mikhail was being so confrontational and wouldn’t just speak his mind. He didn’t know how to communicate any clearer that he just needed to know why.

“I can’t force you to tell me, but if you won’t, I’ll just have to assume you’re being stubborn for no reason like Malos thinks you are, and we’ll have to deal with that, because I’m not having a kid that never listens to me. That’s dangerous, when we’re doing what we do.” 

“We’re not doing anything,” Mikhail said. “We’re sitting in a room waiting for something while Malos does stuff. But we don’t know what he’s doing and then he thinks he can order me around like I’m st- like I’m some kind of servant.”

Mikhail had tried to hide it, but Jin was pretty sure he’d heard ‘still’ there. And suddenly, all of this made a little more sense. “Is that what this is about, Mik? You think he’s treating you like a servant?” 

Mikhail looked away, his fingers worrying the hem of his tunic. Jin had rarely heard Mikhail be so vocal about something before; this was important to him, but he wouldn’t admit it. “Nope,” he said. “I just don’t want to do it.”

“You know I can tell when you’re lying, Mik…” Jin stepped closer, sitting down on one of the beds. He didn't want this to turn into telling Mikhail off, but really, he needed some honesty. “If that’s what’s going on here, I won’t make you clean the room by yourself. Promise.” 

“You don’t have to feel sorry for me,” Mikhail said firmly. Jin just wanted to let out a huge sigh, but he didn’t want to worry Mik even more. He did feel sorry for Mikhail. And he worried about him, too. This wasn’t really a discussion he should have to have.

“If you don’t want me to feel sorry for you, would you feel better if I just ordered you to clean up the room?” That came out a little snappier than Jin had intended, but it got the point across. “I can’t help you if you don’t want to be helped.” 

“I don’t need help,” Mikhail said. “I’m just not doing it. I can do other things. I’ll listen if it’s dangerous. But I’m not doing this.”

“Mikhail,” he said, moving his head to make sure he had firm eye contact with the boy. “Just tell me why, and then you don’t have to do it.”

Mikhail glared at him. Jin glared right back. He was not going to back down on this, no matter how long it took. 

“...Fine. You’re right,” Mikhail mumbled, glancing away. “Ugh.” 

“You don’t want to do it because you felt like Malos was treating you like a servant?” he asked. Mikhail nodded, keeping his eyes fixed on the ground. “That’s okay. I’ll tidy the room, Mik.”

“...Thank you.” Mikhail still wasn’t looking at him, but Jin saw a hint of a smile twitch on his lips. A genuine one, not a fake one, or one that implied he’d been making this whole thing up. And really, that was all Jin had wanted to see. 

“All you need to do is talk to me if something’s wrong,” he said, getting up to start picking things up off the floor. It made perfect sense that Mikhail was averse to doing this, if Jin had assumed the right things about his past. He felt like there was something else he should say about the situation, but he couldn’t think of how to voice it.

“I know,” Mikhail said quietly. “I’d just rather Malos wasn’t around. I don’t think he likes me much.” 

“Hey, that’s not true.” At least, it wasn’t anymore. “He’s just not so great at expressing his emotions.” Malos was still a bit of a mystery, but he’d saved Mikhail’s life unprompted to do so and had kept him around for weeks until Jin had come into the picture. That wasn’t the actions of someone who disliked someone.

“He’s not the only one,” Mikhail said, moving to sit on the bed Jin had just made. Well, at least it wasn’t the one he was trying to tidy. Jin opted to ignore the comment that was probably directed at him.

“Malos has been through a lot, much like you have. Much like we all have, I suppose. So you have to cut him a bit of slack when he gets grumpy, and with any luck he’ll do the same for you.” Jin finished making Malos’ bed as well, and turned back to Mikhail. “Does that seem fair?” 

“I guess,” Mikhail said. Jin could tell that he was thinking about the past. It was a look on Mikhail’s face that he was getting very used to seeing. “I don’t have to like him though.” Well, Jin didn’t think he could enforce that. He didn’t like Malos all that much himself. 

“No, you don’t have to like him. Definitely not. You just have to put up with him.” Most of the cleaning done, Jin sat himself down opposite Mikhail. “You’re a good kid. And whatever you need, I’ll try and help you. Promise.” He avoided saying the word family. In a way, that was how he wanted it to be, but...the last time someone had told Mikhail that, it hadn’t ended well for anyone. For now, all he could do was support Mik in any way he could.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :) if you enjoyed, please consider leaving a comment!


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